The Intricacies of an Ornament
by TheOtherWeasley03
Summary: It's been a month since the breakup from hell and Anna is finally finding herself... Cue the sexy mountain man she's commissioned to design her an ornament for Christmas. Miles and miles apart Anna and Kristoff find themselves scared, but excited, to be putting themselves out there and connecting with one another. But distance, nerves, and life's uncertainties may make this tough.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hey everyone! After seeing Frozen 2 I could not get Anna and Kristoff out of my head! They manage to be a completely adorable couple, eager to help one another through anything and everything, while still maintaining their independence. And those lines Kristoff delivers about his love for Anna? RIP me. The plan for this story is for it to be divided into 5 chapters ranging from just before Christmas to the end of June. The first two chapters are done, the second will be posted soon, and I'm currently working on the third. I'd love to hear from you if you liked this story!_

**Part 1: Anna's POV**

Anna sighed dramatically, her left hand cupping her chin as she leaned her elbow against her desk staring at her blindingly bright computer screen. It was late at night, or rather incredibly early in the morning but, since had Hans dumped her a bit more than a month ago, this was where she found herself most nights: scrolling through social media or huddled in bed trying not to drop her phone on her face as she perused Instagram. All things considered her insomnia was an improvement over what she would've been doing if Hans was still around… Two years together, five months of which she'd been engaged to the prick. In the span of those two years she'd become a recluse, cutting herself off from her sister and close friends in favor of doing what Hans liked when he came into town to visit her: stay in. She'd worked herself to the point of exhaustion during the workweek so that she never had to bring home any of her work with her on the weekends, and she'd counted calories to the point that her sister had tried to stage several interventions with her as it became clear that an already healthy Anna was dropping weight.

Since her relationship with Hans had ended explosively with the realization that he'd not only cheated on her, but had been sleeping with various women throughout the course of their entire relationship, Anna had been trying to piece her life back together. Her therapist had made it clear that she had her work cut out for her; she'd thrown away great friendships in an attempt to earn her boyfriend's approval and had become so uncomfortable even being in social situations that there was a lot of trauma to unravel… Never mind the awful relationship with food that she'd cultivated, all to keep her boyfriend interested in her body when, as it turned out, he was never solely interested in her to begin with… And that didn't even begin to touch on the fact that her sex life had been unsatisfying and based on guilt while she was with him.

_So there you have it_, Anna thought to herself as she tried to roll her shoulders to relieve some of the tension building there as her mind had wandered back to Hans, _you're 23 and have had one serious relationship that left you so fucked up no guy is ever going want to get to know you_.

The minutes ticked by bringing her closer to the time when her alarm clock would inevitably go off telling her to get ready for the work day, yet Anna continued scrolling away searching for Christmas gift ideas for Elsa - her sister and the only person who had been there for Anna when everything imploded. _What can you even get a person who loves you unconditionally to say thank you for helping to save me from my downward spiral of grief?_ Scrolling mindlessly at 2am was unlikely to result in any smart purchases, but it was better than tossing and turning in bed… alone and aware of just how alone she really was. Instead, Anna read through a post from an old college friend:

"Hey everyone! With the holidays only 3 weeks away I wanted to ask that any of my friends who have their own businesses, Etsy stores, or are sales reps for online companies (makeup, bags, books, you name it!) leave their business links below. This holiday season let's make it a point to shop local and support one another instead of the big chain companies!"

With her eyebrows shooting up Anna was impressed to see that the post already had 37 comments on it. Scrolling through the responses and links to purses, leggings, and cookware one caught Anna's eye. There was a link to an actual website – not a Facebook business page – for a metalworking hobbyist. Following the link, Anna was impressed. It was a simple, no frills website that pictured dozens of metal holiday ornaments with inscriptions and at the bottom a note: commissions welcome. Clicking back to Facebook, Anna pulled up the profile for the guy who'd posted the link. His profile was barren with a crappy profile picture that didn't even show his face; instead he had his back the camera and was standing with a massive dog facing a snow-covered mountain. Without friending him, that was all Anna could see… The name next to the photo was simply: Kristoff.

Perhaps it was the insomnia induced, mind-numbing thoughtlessness that often plagued Anna around 2am, but without thinking she clicked on the message button and didn't look back:

"Hey Kristoff! My name is Anna and I saw your business link on Christina's Facebook post. Those ornaments you make are BEAUTIFUL and I was wondering if there was still time to submit a commission that would be finished before Christmas? I know it's only three weeks away but I'll keep my fingers crossed – my sister has been my rock these last few weeks and I need to find a way to show her just how thankful I am… I'm hoping you can help by creating an intricate snowflake ornament with our initials (A & E) interwoven in some sort of infinity symbol? Let me know if this is even something you'd consider… Can't wait to hear from you!"

Without a second thought Anna clicked send and slammed her laptop screen shut, certain it'd be hours if not days before she received some sort of response from the mysterious mountain man.

**Two days later…**

"Alright kiddos, see you after gym class!" Anna called to her first graders before letting the door to the elementary school's gym bang shut behind her as she rushed to the faculty bathroom. Ahh, the life of a teacher: eating cold lunches, the constant plague of colds, and suffering through the reality of having to hold your pee until your classroom of sweet little demonic angel babies was safely with another teacher for forty minutes.

It'd been two days since she'd sent Kristoff the message asking about his ornament designs and she hadn't heard a thing back until a little over an hour ago when her phone had dinged in her desk drawer… to which her first graders swiftly reminded her "no phones allowed Miss Arendelle!"

"I know, I know!" Anna had joked as she walked over to her desk to turn her phone on silent. It was then, as the screen lit up with the messenger notification that she'd seen the mountain man had responded… Of course, she hadn't had time to look at it yet, but would after she refilled her coffee mug with the stale faculty room offerings. Rushing back to her classroom to gulp down her coffee, check in with Elsa that they were still on for dinner to celebrate the start of another weekend, and see if Kristoff could, in fact, design her an ornament were all on her list of goals to accomplish in 40 minutes or less… Not to mention grading the days spelling quiz and responding to the latest slew of parent emails.

Settling in at her cluttered desk Anna took a deep breath before diving in and pulling up her hair into a messy bun. Grabbing her phone from her desk drawer she quickly typed out a brief message to Elsa verifying that they were still meeting for dinner and drinks – a newfound weekly ritual that Elsa instated after the breakup from hell to make sure Anna didn't spiral into a pit of self-loathing, but also to make sure her sister was eating - before shifting gears and opening the messenger app. And sure enough, there in black and white was the response she'd been hoping for:

"Hi Anna. Thank you for your interest in commissioning an ornament. I should be able to sketch up a draft of what the ornament would like and get it to you by the end of the weekend. If you like what I come up with, I think I can get this to you a few days before Christmas. For a 5" ornament, I typically charge $35 for custom work. Sound fair?"

Shrugging her shoulders with the realization that she had no idea what was considered "fair" for a custom ornament, Anna eagerly replied: "YES! Thank you so much! Can't wait to see the design you come up with – I'm sure my sister is going to LOVE it!"

Cringing as she re-read the sent message at her overuse of exclamation points she couldn't help but wonder if Kristoff would think she was strangely enthusiastic about ornaments or just trying to be friendly… With the response written and sent, Anna couldn't help but glare at the mountainous pile of spelling tests on the corner of her desk. Of course, she knew she should start grading them now so that it was one less thing to worry about over the course of the weekend, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead, she pulled up Facebook and found Kristoff's profile again. Just as it was a few nights ago very little information was given on his profile page since they weren't "friends"; hovering her finger over the "add friend" button Anna stopped to consider the ramifications… Would he think she was a weirdo for friending him after one measly exchange on messenger? Probably. Would he probably deny her friend request? Almost certainly. But… on the other hand… if he accepted, she'd get to see more pictures of this mountain man. It was strange, but the image of his back to the camera, majestic looking dog beside him, and a massive mountain ahead of him had struck some sort of chord within her… She couldn't help but wish that she was in the photo too; staring up at the beauty of nature with a guy – and dog – by her side? Who wouldn't want that?

Anna swallowed hard before determinedly exiting out of the app, no need to freak a total stranger out.

**Sunday night…**

As the weekend came to a close Anna found herself sitting in front of her television, in her tiny apartment with a glass of wine next to her and a slew of spelling tests laid out before her. A few weeks ago, Hans would've made it sound like the end of the world that she'd brought work home that needed to get done while he was visiting. Rolling her eyes, Anna quickly pulled her hair together into two messy braids and got to work while reruns of her favorite reality tv show (what Hans called trash television) played in the background. Sometime later, when most of the spelling tests were graded, a sudden, perky 'ding!' rang out through her apartment. Startled and nearly dropping her wine glass on the white carpet, Anna took a moment to steady her heartbeat. Usually this was about the time Hans would've texted her that he'd gotten back to his place (which was a few hours away) and wanted to Facetime her to make sure she was home and not out with friends or… as Elsa clarified more recently… to make sure she wasn't out with any guys.

Quickly realizing that her fears were unwarranted since she'd blocked the bastard's number shortly after she'd punched him in the nose, she set her glass down and reached for her phone. Slightly surprised that it wasn't a notification from Elsa checking on Anna's headspace before the start of another week, she was pleased to see it was an attachment sent by none other than Kristoff. Sliding her phone open and pulling up the attachment her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw the gorgeously intricate, one of a kind, detailing that he'd sketched up as a rough outline for what he would create out of metal. Another notification followed quickly, "I didn't forget about the initials. Just wondering what kind of font you'd prefer? Fancy script or more basic?"

"Wow! I mean WOW! Kristoff, that sketch alone is incredible! How much time does it take you to sketch out these ornaments? And then to actually create them?" Her fingers had flown across her phone with lightning speed and the message was sent before Anna had even realized she'd forgotten entirely to respond to his straightforward questions.

"And I think I'd rather a more basic font… Think Times New Roman or Century Schoolbook."

"Cool… good choice. Always more readable when you're working with straight lines." Was the swift reply.

Anna sat back, cocooning herself in her plush sofa surprised by his quick response. It'd been a while since she'd messaged back and forth with a guy who wasn't Hans… Rolling her eyes she reminded herself that she was always friendly with Gary the janitor and Lloyd the IT guy at her school building, but for whatever reason, conversations with Gary and Lloyd weren't quite as thrilling as the short, succinct messages she'd just gotten from a guy she didn't even know.

"Thanks!" Anna replied, biting her lip as she realized that it might seem pathetic to respond so enthusiastically to a message about fonts with straight lines. Nervous that she'd look like a freak she quickly tacked on, "As a teacher I can appreciate the importance of legibility."

Those well-known dots emerged at the bottom of the message box indicating that Kristoff was, in fact, responding to her overwhelmingly lame reply.

"You asked about how much time it takes? Most people don't ever ask about that kind of stuff…"

Anna's eyebrows show up in surprise, _is he actually trying to continue this conversation?_ "I'm just so impressed, it looks like such time-consuming work… I'm sure the whole process is… I don't really have any hobbies that are this interesting."

Time seemed to stand still as she waited for his next reply. "Honestly, because I enjoy it, it doesn't actually feel time consuming. I usually just work on commission sketches during my lunch breaks or when I get home from work. This snowflake design took a while. The actual metal making portion of it will be a few evenings worth of work after work."

Anna felt a bit guilty knowing that he'd be working after his normal work hours – whatever they may be - on this ornament for her. Biting her lip she nervously typed out, "That sounds like a lot of work… With the holidays coming up are you sure you want to bother with this? It's no big deal if you don't want to, I swear I'd understand."

The response came speedily. "Of course I'm going to make the ornament – you said you wanted it to thank your sister, right?"

Anna nodded to herself on the sofa for a solid thirty seconds before realizing that Kristoff couldn't see her. "Yes…"

"Then it's agreed. Whenever you can, shoot me your e-mail so I can invoice you, okay?"

Typing out her e-mail address Anna couldn't help but feel a little giddy… Sure, it was a conversation about a commission she was paying for, but it was still a conversation with a guy. Which was a major improvement considering it was the first time in forever she'd had a conversation with a guy she didn't work with.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2: Kristoff's POV

"Just another Tuesday night, me and you buddy." Kristoff sighed, only half paying attention to the show on his beat-up old television while he scratched his dog, Sven, behind the ears.

It had been a long day at work, filled with annoying people trying to chat him up and talk about the upcoming holidays. And, quite frankly, he didn't have the time or energy to listen to that bullshit. Everyone acted like December was the most magical time of the whole year, and that just wasn't true. At least not for him. No, December was a constant reminder that his best friend was a dog and his parents were long gone. Years in the foster care system had left him uncertain of who he could trust and uncomfortably aware that no matter how good he was gifts were not some guarantee on Christmas morning.

Flipping through the channels and giving Sven one final ear scratch, Kristoff's mind wandered. Work on the construction crew had been tough today, solely because of irritating coworkers, but a few hours in his garage working on some metal designs that needed to be shipped out soon had helped to put him in a better mood. Now, as he was lounging on the sofa with Sven he couldn't stop his mind from roaming. The snowflake for Anna Arendelle was coming along nicely; the intricacies of the snowflake he'd designed were a bit out of his wheelhouse, but he found himself excited to try something a bit more elaborate than his usual. All of that to say that he found himself waging an internal war: to text her or to not text her.

The 'her' being Anna… After their messenger conversation Sunday night he'd been debating reaching out to her again. For whatever reason he'd really enjoyed their brief conversation; it'd been forever since he talked to someone who seemed genuinely interested in his hobby… someone who took the time to ask thoughtful questions, worried that the workload may be too much for him, and just seemed really nice. Of course, all of this was through a screen with absolutely no direct contact, so it wasn't creepy (at least that's what he told himself) when his curiosity had gotten the best of him and he'd searched for her profile. Surprisingly it had been incredibly simple to find; as it turned out her last name wasn't very common on Facebook, and – not believing his luck - her profile was public… which initially made him wary. _Who leaves their profile public in this day and age?_ Like a perfect match to her enthusiastic inquiry message her profile photo greeted him with a smile that was big, cheeks lifted in extreme delight, eyes crinkled with genuine excitement, and the most gorgeous red hair he'd ever seen piled on top of her head in a messy bun with a pencil sticking through it. She was, he had decided, pretty freaking adorable. Scouring her Facebook profile it wasn't long before he'd learned that she was a first grade teacher at an elementary school in Indiana, close with her older sister, and a lover of reading, the Real Housewives, and baseball. Her most recent photos were from the past month or so, almost exclusively featuring Anna and her sister – a stern looking platinum blonde who looked nothing like Anna - out and about. Then, weirdly, there was a pretty sizeable chunk of time where she either hadn't posted any photos or, Kristoff had thought, deleted them. The rest of her photos were from two years back and on.

Since that light Facebook "investigation" Kristoff had found himself hoping Anna would update her profile with anything, solely so he could gain some more insight into her personality. A lot of her posts were photos, but she also tended to repost funny memes, cute videos primarily featuring animals, and some random status updates that were more akin to the incoherent musings of someone shoulder deep in Real Housewives reruns. To be clear, she wasn't his type AT ALL… But that didn't stop his mind from gravitating back to Anna when he was bored. It'd only been two days since they last messaged but he was looking for anyway to reach out, when a thought suddenly came upon him like a burst of lightning:

_Why the hell don't you just message her that the ornament is coming along nicely? Or that you received her payment?_ Rolling his eyes at his own stupidity, Kristoff scratched the back of his neck as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. _Would it be weird to message his client?_ Certainly not if he kept it professional… Pulling his phone out of his deep back pocket it took him several minutes of typing out a message, erasing it entirely, and rewriting a new – yet distinctly – similar message to send. This went on for far longer than it should've before he found himself pleased with what he'd come up with…

"Hey Anna, it's Kristoff. Just wanted to say that I got your payment. Your ornament is coming along nicely and should be done by the end of the week… Hope you're having a good week so far."

Looking at Sven for confirmation that he hadn't just made a total jackass of himself, he pressed send before silencing his phone and getting up to grab himself a beer. Now he would just spend the next hour or two pretending his phone didn't exist so that he wouldn't feel the need to constantly check it…

As if Sven knew exactly what was running through his masters mind the dog rolled his eyes dramatically before dropping his head back onto the sofa, eyes slowly blinking shut as the sounds of Forged in Fire gently lulled him into a nap. Kristoff, returning from the kitchen with his chilled can of beer in tow, had his mind set that he would not pick up his phone to see if the message had been responded to for – at least – one hour… But his plan was futile because nothing could stop him from lunging across his beaten and battered coffee table for his phone when it lit up with a notification.

"Thanks for letting me know =) I can't wait to see the finished product! This week has been intense so it'll be a real treat when I get to see it!"

Kristoff was a loner at heart; he thoroughly disliked most people and truly believed that he was almost always better off alone. Asinine conversations with clients was not something he ever took part in, but there was something about this redhead that had him by the nape of his neck, screaming in his ear to dig a little deeper and try to be friendly… He had no idea why, but it was the truth. As he sat on his sofa, beer now forgotten, he wasn't sure if it was even his place to ask the question that had immediately jumped to the forefront of his mind: _What's wrong?_

"I don't even know this girl, Sven…" he whined to himself as Sven snoozed on beside him, blissfully unaware of the war raging inside Kristoff at that very moment. "Should I ask her what's been so intense?"

Still asleep, Sven gave a contented yawn from his spot beside Kristoff before snuggling closer to the old, soft pillow next to him.

"Well," Kristoff began, hesitantly hitting the letters with the rough pads of his thumbs, "it doesn't hurt to ask. What's the worst that'll happen? She won't respond and I'll rush her ornament so I never have to speak to her again."

This time, instead of leaving his phone on the coffee table he put it directly on his thigh well aware that no matter what was on the television or how interesting it was, his attention span was only big enough to keep an eye out for any response. With time for only two gulps of his beer, eyes glued to his phone screen awaiting any sign of a response, Kristoff was relieved when the screen finally, mercifully illuminated with a message from Anna. Sliding his finger across the screen quicker than usual, he breathed a sigh of relief when her newest message popped up.

"It's just been a tough week for me… My students have been out of their minds (I teach first grade, btw) with Christmas so close, my dryer broke, and my ex-boyfriend – a real piece of work – changed the password on my Netflix account so I've been having trouble logging in. Just… frustrating. Sorry if that's too much information lol"

Without a moment's hesitation Kristoff found his fingers flying across the keyboard, eagerly weighing in with his two cents: "Your ex sounds like a real jackass… And at least Christmas is around the corner, right? There's a light at the end of tunnel =)"

"I know, I know! I try to stay positive, and I really do love teaching and all of my students, but this year they're behaving like tiny terrorists hellbent on destroying my classroom and sanity… It just didn't help that I couldn't catch up on my show when I got home from work today; I'm still trying to get in touch with tech support over my account getting hacked."

Scratching his forehead, Kristoff couldn't help but wonder who this jackass of an ex-boyfriend was… Stealing your ex-girlfriend's Netflix login, that she was presumably paying for, to mess with her? He considered himself a non-violent pacifist, but even he had the urge to punch this stranger in the face.

"And honestly," another message from Anna pinged through, "I'm going to murder him if he messes up where I'm at in the few series' I'm watching."

"Rightfully so!"

"Or, I'll turn into one of those crazy nutjobs who sends him a glitter bomb!"

"…A glitter bomb?"

"Oh, come on! You're online! Haven't you seen those videos where people send boxes that, when the receiver opens them, explode with glitter so it'll take a LIFETIME to clean… and even then they'll still find glitter remnants around their house for years?!"

"That… sounds awful…"

Kristoff switched apps on his phone to look into this glitter bomb thing which, as it turned out, actually existed and was quite a phenomenon.

"Kristoff?" It was a simple message that chimed through, but it brought him back to the real world and away from websites listing all of the revenge boxes people could send to one another… There was even one where you could send poop, actual human poop, to your arch-nemesis. "I swear I'm not nuts or anything… I don't think I would ever send a glitter bomb to someone, no matter how awful they were… Hope you don't think I'm a total nutjob or something…"

Internally laughing and imagining Anna's nerves over his delayed response, "Nah, no worries. I had to search it to make sure you weren't pulling my leg or something."

"Oh… good. I thought maybe I weirded you out and you weren't going to respond…"

Smiling, Kristoff took another sip of his beer and sighed. Not respond? Not a chance.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Happy New Year! This is my longest chapter to date (seriously, I don't think any of my other stories have ever included a chapter this long…), so I'm especially proud of myself. Expect the fourth installment towards the end of this week. Two more parts to go till the end!

Part 3: Anna's POV

As it turned out, Anna's fear that Kristoff might think she was a total weirdo and block her had been for nothing. It had been just over three weeks and the pair of strangers had found a way to talk every single day since that fateful Tuesday night. Initially the conversations had some trouble finding a flow; neither were sure what the other was interested in, so topics had been bland. They used messenger before exchanging numbers to text; they discussed the weather, Kristoff's business, and generic hobbies. But both of them had managed to persevere for reasons that were unbeknownst to them, and somehow a friendship had flourished. Now they spoke every day – often multiple times a day – and Anna couldn't have been happier. It had been months, if not years, since she'd been this excited to talk to a guy, which left a sour taste in her mouth every time she remembered that she'd been engaged not even three months ago… How one man could make her feel like such a worthless piece of nothing, while another made her laugh and reminded her on a daily basis that she was kind, compassionate, and considerate never ceased to amaze her. Talking with Kristoff left her head spinning and honestly Anna knew it was kind of crazy, but she was head over heels for Kristoff… the problem was that she'd never even met him.

Sure, they texted every day and talked on the phone just about every other, but the small pit in her stomach was a constant reminder that she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. _What if he isn't who he says he is? What if this was all some wildly elaborate catfishing scheme?_

But those were nerves that Anna did her best to shake off… after all they were officially Facebook friends, he had a clear social media presence, and most importantly: he was kind to her. She wasn't relying on him for anything more than friendship and, unlike Hans, he never made her feel guilty for being too busy to respond to a text, or answer a phone call. At the end of the day, when all was said and done, they were friends. And Anna was happy, which was more than she could say for the past couple of years.

Stumbling her way up the three flights of stairs to her apartment, Anna couldn't help but sigh in relief as she dropped the heavy giftbags Elsa had sent her home with. Christmas this year had been, for the first time in forever, an exceptionally awesome one. With no Hans to drag her spirits down, Anna was thrilled to spend the holiday with her older sister. Since their parents' untimely deaths in an awful boating accident about five years earlier, the girls had made it a point to celebrate the holiday with one another. Of course, Hans had made that difficult so for the past two years the sisters had found themselves lonely on a holiday that was meant to bring family together… meanwhile they had been drifting further and further apart. Which, Anna presumed, was why Elsa had gone all out for this Christmas. On Christmas Eve her sister had thrown a blow-out of a feast for all of her friends, co-workers, and neighbors which she'd decreed was to be a formal occasion, and Anna had been more than a little happy to get glammed up for it. After a crazy month of teaching first graders who wanted nothing more than to show up to school in pajamas and watch Christmas movies, Anna had been thrilled to treat herself. On the 20th, after a half day of school, she'd braved two department stores to find a knock-out dress, gotten her hair trimmed, and had her nails done up in a festive glittery red.

Arriving at Elsa's fancy loft on the ritzy side of town, Anna was staggered by the degree to which her sister had gone for this party… Sitting in her car as anxiety began to ebb its way back into her stomach, she'd taken out her phone and called Kristoff or, as she often referred to him in her mind and NEVER aloud, her mountain man.

"Hey Anna," Kristoff's gruff voice had answered, and Anna's stomach clenched in something other than anxiety… something more akin to desire.

"Hey!" her voice had sounded a smidge high even to her, and she knew in a second that he could tell something was up.

"Everything okay? You sound… I don't know… kinda nervous?"

"Oh, what? Yea, I'm fine. Sorry." Sitting in her car down the block from the apartment, Anna could see in her rearview mirror a handful of people, elegantly dressed, and laden with gifts for the hostess making their way to her sisters building; there were even ushers outside greeting Elsa's guests with glasses of champagne. Suddenly her new dress, the one that had made her feel like a million bucks just a few days before, didn't seem nearly glitzy enough for this crowd.

"You sure? You don't sound too sure…"

"No, no, I'm fine. Just sitting in my car…" Anna paused unsure if she wanted to admit to Kristoff just how pathetically anxious she was to spend an evening with many people she hadn't seen in months, if not years… "Just trying to work up the courage to head into my sisters party…"

There was a slight pause on Kristoff's end, during which Anna could've sworn that she could hear the scraping of a chair being pulled across linoleum flooring before Kristoff sat down. "Listen, I know I don't know your sister, but I'm positive that you have nothing to be nervous about. Besides, yesterday you were telling me how excited you are for this… what happened?"

Twisting some of her hair that she'd tried to artfully leave around her face, Anna shrugged and tried to shrink back into her seat as a Lexus drove down her sister's street, the lights nearly blinding her and causing her heartrate to pick up.

"Anna, I can't see you. You have to speak, remember?" He laughed gruffly.

"You know me pretty well, don't you?" Anna murmured.

"It feels like it," came the soft reply. "So, what's got you so nervous?"

Sighing, Anna realized she wasn't even sure where to begin. "Honestly? I have no idea… I just realized that it's the first Christmas in a while that I'll be with my sister and… I really, really want it to go well. And now, I'm watching all of these gorgeously dressed men and women walk up to her building and I just feel… like I'm not enough."

"You are enough." Kristoff said quickly, forcefully almost. "You are more than enough. And you know what Anna? You are going to have an awesome time."

"I know you're trying to be nice, but you don't see these people walking up to the door. I should've spent the extra money and gotten a fancier dress, or done my hair up in a different twist…"

"No," his voice, clear and sharp, cut across her own meek, nerve riddled one. "I don't have to be in that car with you to know that you look fucking gorgeous, okay?"

At that notion a laugh ripped its way up through Anna and burst out into the silence of her car, "You think I look good, huh?" A snort followed the short-lived belly laugh, and she wanted to curl in on herself and die… _Oh my god… a guy says you look fucking gorgeous and your response is to SNORT? Jesus, Anna, pull it together girl._

"No. I _know_ you do." He emphasized, "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that you're pretty Anna, clearly someone needs to be telling you this more often if you're going to laugh at the very idea of it."

Pushing down the memories slowly creeping into her minds eye, memories of Hans implying that she wasn't enough, that her outfit wasn't a good fit, that her makeup made her look too old and that her butt looked too big, Anna took a deep breath and in a shy voice, murmured into her phone, "You're so nice to me, you know that?"

There was silence on the other end of the line while Kristoff scrambled for something, anything, to say in response.

"Sorry," Anna began, fidgeting with her dress while keeping an eye on the rearview mirror as more people seemed to be pulling onto the street for Elsa's party. "I didn't mean to put you on the spot. But it's true... You are so nice to me, and I don't know that I'll ever be able to tell you how much I appreciate it…"

There was a brief pause where Anna could hear Kristoff's breathing before his low, raspy voice came through the line, "I just wish more people told you how amazing and beautiful and smart you are, Anna. Because then maybe you'd believe it… I hate that you always seem surprised when I tell you." Anna placed a hand on her heart in a futile attempt to steady her heartbeat. "I know we've only ever talked on the phone, but I've gotta tell you Anna… all of that seems like the most brutally honest truth in the world to me. And I wish you could see how lucky everyone around you is, just to know you."

"Kristoff," she sighed into the phone. "You make me feel lucky."

"Well then," Kristoff said a bit more loudly than his previous admission, "how about you hop outta that car and get yourself into that party? You said you were staying the night with your sister, right?"

"Yup!" Grabbing her gold, glittery clutch from the passenger seat, Anna sat mentally preparing to exit her car. She was only half a block away from the party, but her body still felt heavy with trepidation; the walk, though short, was going to feel like a marathon.

"That's great! Then get in there, have a couple drinks, and have a damn blast. If anyone deserves it, it's you; you survived a month with first graders going batshit crazy – drink and be merry!"

"You know," Anna murmured as she turned off her ignition, "you really might be the nicest guy I know… I just wish we could meet up…"

There was a heavy sigh from the other line and Anna, uncertain where she wanted to take this phone call decided it was best to make a swift exit from it, "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Absolutely, Anna. Have a good time!"

There was a moment pause where Anna almost said the three most important words you could ever say to a person… the three most romantic words one person could say to another… but she'd swallowed them down just in time with her cheeks burning hot at her near blunder. _God, he'd probably never speak to me again if I just threw that at him…_

The party, as it turned out, had been totally freaking awesome. When Elsa had told her that she was going all out, she wasn't joking… in fact, she'd really undersold the party. The ushers greeting guests at the door to her swanky apartment building with glasses of champagne were only the beginning. An elevator operator was there to whisk guests up to Elsa's top floor apartment while romantic melodies filled the small cabin. Then, just when guests were ready to close their eyes and just let the music fill their senses, the doors opened to what could best be described as a real-life winter wonderland. The spacious, top floor apartment that only the most badass lawyer could dream of affording was decked out beyond all compare. Crystals hung from chandeliers creating the feel that one was inside an ice castle; a pianist played upbeat Christmas tunes in the dining area that was filled with the most delicious smells one could even imagine, while a DJ played top 40 hits across the apartment in what was typically Elsa's living room which had been turned into a dance floor.

Butlers swept back and forth across the room passing out appetizers and flutes of champagne; a bartender was mixing drinks in Elsa's state of the art kitchen. Men and women were mingling and laughing, some were dancing, and others lounging on the furniture Elsa had a decorator bring in to keep with the theme. A photographer was snapping away, aiming to get candid photos of the guests enjoying themselves.

It had taken a few minutes but Anna had finally found her sister sweeping through the apartment in the most flawlessly gorgeous dress Anna could have ever dreamed up. It was an ice-blue with what Elsa had explained were Swarovski crystals sewn into the bodice; a thigh high slit made an already stunning dress appear effortlessly sexy. Her hair, a platinum blonde that was almost always kept tied back in a severe bun, was loosely braided down her shoulder.

"Anna!" Elsa cried, smiling huge and leaning in to wrap her little sister in a bear hug. "When did you arrive? I've been keeping an eye out for you! And, oh my god, you look amazing! I love this dress!"

Anna held her arms out as she gave a small twirl in her emerald dress; it had caught her eye the second she saw it on the rack at the department store. It was a floor length, emerald green dress, cut in a v-neck in the front, with a low scoop back; definitely out of her comfort zone. Usually her dresses were cut to hit just below the knee and she almost always opted for a royal blue color. Tonight's dress was easily the prettiest thing she owned.

"I love the gold detailing around your waist!"

"Thanks, but wow, Elsa… your dress! You look… different!"

Elsa laughed, tossing her head back and allowing her braid to fall behind her shoulders and her sparkly earrings to shine in the twinkling lights. "Thanks, sis. You've gotta let down your hair sometime though, right? And let's be honest," she linked her arm through Anna's, "tonight was the perfect opportunity to show those guys at the office that I'm more than just some straight-laced lawyer."

"No kidding. You're a dynamite!"

"Exactly, and it's fun to show off sometimes."

The pair glided arm in arm through the party, talking, giggling, and mostly hanging out by the chocolate fountain. Guests came and went, thanking Elsa for the party, remarking on how lavish it was and what a wonderful time they'd had. Others came to Anna, asking where she'd been, if she was enjoying teaching, and how Hans was… It had hurt more than she'd expected to be reminded of Hans on a night like that. It was obvious that the guests had meant no disrespect in asking about her career or her was-fiancé, but it felt uncomfortable to have Elsa's wealthy friends ask her if she found such a low-paying career rewarding… or seeing the surprise sweep across their faces as she relayed the information that she'd been single for months now and was happier than ever.

Around midnight the guests began the slow process of filtering out; it was officially Christmas day and the wealthy guests had to get home to prepare for the festivities that the day would bring. As the last guest left the loft, Elsa and Anna curled up in their dresses on the plush white sofa and fell asleep to the opening lines of Love Actually – their favorite Christmas movie from when they were kids still living at home.

Wiping drool from the side of her mouth, Anna had woken early to the sunlight streaming in through her sister's massive windows. There were still remnants of last nights party all around them, but the catering staff had done an excellent job of cleaning up after themselves. Grabbing her clutch and heading towards the bathroom to freshen up, Anna pulled out her phone and felt the butterflies erupt when she realized Kristoff had sent her a few messages throughout the night.

"Hey Anna, hope you're having fun =) I'm sure you're having a blast, but if you're not you can always text."

Smiling, she scrolled to view the next message that had come in hours later: "Guess you're having a good time, which is awesome =) Hope you're having those drinks and forgetting all about work. Enjoy yourself!"

And finally, sometime after midnight: "Merry Christmas, Anna. I'm going to bed now, but hopefully we can talk later."

Her cheeks twinged in only a little bit of pain from the smile that was so big it had lit up her entire face and, quite possibly, the entire planet.

Christmas day with Elsa had been just as magical as when they were kids. Elsa had ordered in their favorite bagels and served them with mimosas. The sisters ate all the leftover chocolate they could find and just spent the day swapping stories and enjoying one another's company. Sometime after dinner they'd begun swapping presents and the beautiful ornament Kristoff had made was a hit.

"Oh my God, Anna!" Elsa squealed, clutching the ornament delicately in her hands as she studied the intricacies and engraving, "This is stunning! Where did you even find something like this?"

Anna smiled sweetly, her mind floating to Kristoff as she began telling her sister all about the quiet, gruff mountain man who'd unexpectedly become her friend. Unbeknownst to Anna she had actually babbled on for quite some time, much to Elsa's surprise… It wasn't often that Anna spoke so fondly of a guy she'd never met, and Elsa's paranoia kicked into high gear without a second thought.

"So…" Elsa began, tying her long hair back into ponytail as her sister finally took a break from recounting every possible detail she knew about this Kristoff. "You haven't met him?"

"Oh! No. He actually lives in Colorado! That's part of why he hikes so much with his dog! They live pretty close to the Rocky Mountains, from what I understand."

"But you've spoken with him?" Elsa's paranoia was written clear as day across her porcelain skin, and Anna, so trusting and hopeful, couldn't help but wish she'd contained some of her excitement. She knew exactly what her sister was implying: that she was too trusting. That she might be getting catfished.

"Elsa." Anna huffed, standing from her cozy spot on the sofa and heading back to the assortment of chocolates leftover from the party. "I already told you, we talk a bunch. We text. We actually SPEAK on the phone. He's a really nice guy…"

Elsa pursed her lips, weighing her next words carefully. "You know I worry Anna."

Doe eyes lifted from the chocolate stash and made contact with Elsa's. "I know…I do. But you don't need to worry… He's just a nice guy I talk to."

"Mhm," Elsa murmured as she leaned back into the sofa, bringing her legging clad legs up to cradle against her chest. "But you don't talk about him like he's just some nice guy you know. You talk about him like you like him. Like, like him, if you know what I mean."

Anna's cheeks bloomed a deep pink. "It's not like that!"

"It sounds like that!"

"No!" Anna responded as she put down her tray of chocolates, "It's not. He's just nice. And sweet… So easy to talk to; he's my friend."

"You don't think this is flirting?" Elsa wondered aloud. "You said he told you how beautiful and smart you are… That sounds a little bit more than friendship…"

Sighing Anna carried her collection of chocolate confections back to the sofa and indelicately plopped down next to her sister. Chocolates all but forgotten she leaned her head onto her sister's shoulder before sighing again, but more deeply. "He's just…" She began, uncertain where to go. Breathing in a deep gulp of air she decided to just see where her words took her. "He's just so different Elsa. _So_ kind. He seems like he genuinely cares about how my day went… And I know that I've never met him, but I'm sure he's actually who he says he is. I mean, for one thing he has a business! We tried to Skype before, but it sounds like he's got shitty service where he lives. I saw him, but it was really pixelated – he was basically frozen and his face just looked all fragmented." Anna took a deep breath. "But that's not even really the point; he lives so far away that I doubt we'll ever actually meet up… He's just such a breath of fresh air. He's…" her voice trailed off as the realization took hold of her. "He's just so different from Hans. He lets me talk about my day… He doesn't talk over me. He's a gentleman… I just wish he lived closer…"

Nodding as her paranoia began to fade, Elsa asked the one question she felt more important than the hundreds of others she had simmering on the back burner: "If he did live closer, do you think you'd want to be with him?"

Anna's words had left her at that point, her mind so consumed with the kindness Kristoff showed to her on a daily basis. So instead she nodded mutely, wondering if there was ever a chance of that happening, or if she was just deluding herself.

Wrapping her arm around Anna, Elsa pulled her little sister in close. Anna had been so unlucky in love for so long that it felt unfair for the universe to throw her a guy who lived an entire days journey away. But the heart feels what it feels, and Elsa wasn't about to rub salt in a healing wound.

Overall, it had been a long, exhausting day and a half spent with her older sister, but Anna wouldn't have changed a single thing for the world. The leftover food she'd been sent home with went straight in the refrigerator. Her flats that she'd packed in her overnight bag were unceremoniously kicked off and she dropped her tired, exhausted frame onto her comfy sofa. Anna wasn't sure how long she relaxed there, her body seemingly absorbed into the sofa's plush cushions, before one of her eyes cracked open and eyed her phone that she'd tossed onto the coffee table. The talk with Elsa had been good for her soul; it felt unbelievably nice to confide in her older sister and get some feedback – most of which mirrored what she'd been telling herself for the past few weeks.

Inhaling quickly, Anna snatched her phone from the table and began texting Kristoff before she could convince herself not to.

"Hey Kristoff! Hope you've had a lovely Christmas – sorry I wasn't able to text much earlier… I wanted to be as present as possible with my sister this year. The party wound up being pretty fantastic, although I mostly just hung out with my sister."

Relaxing back into her couch, with her phone perched on stomach, Anna closed her eyes and began to drift off into a light slumber when the notification pinged through with Kristoff's response… It was an adorable photo of his dog sleeping under an undecorated Christmas tree, followed quickly by:

"Glad you had a good time, I figured you would… Sven's glad, too! Just had to put yourself out there a little bit!"

Anna smiled clutching the phone to her chest, "Yea, it was pretty great."

The pair went back and forth for a while, sharing what they'd done that day and Anna going into great detail about the party's delicious chocolate fountain. "It was HUGE!" As the late evening turned to night, and Anna had indulged herself in a second glass of wine, the conversation evolved to a degree that they had yet to experience. Kristoff confided in Anna that his childhood had been rough around the edges and he had been bounced foster home to foster home, before finally matching with people who actually gave a damn. Kevin and Ivy, his foster parents, were out of town this Christmas, but with his upcoming time off of work he was planning on visiting them in Seattle for a late holiday celebration in January. His foster brother, Oliver, was planning to go as well so they could make a mini-makeshift-family reunion out of the whole visit. Kristoff opened up in a way Anna had never expected of the reserved mountain man; he talked about his biological mother and how her fight with cancer had ended right around Christmas when he was nine – effectively ruining the holiday season for him.

Anna, for her part, confided that she was finally happy this season, after having been unknowingly depressed for the past two years. She talked about Hans and the trials he had put her through, the torment she had endured all in the name of love, and how she had a complete and total falling out with her sister until she had finally cut Hans loose just after Halloween (when she found pictures of him online, making out with other girls at a risqué night club on Halloween – a day he had sworn up and down he had to work late and wouldn't have been able to visit her). She spoke openly about the controlling thumb she had been unknowingly living under and the loss of most of her friends and, consequently, her social life. "I didn't realize the darkness I was living in, until it finally lifted when I broke up with him… Within a few days it felt like I could breathe again, but what probably sounds weird is that when I was with Hans, I hadn't realized how suffocated I actually felt. Does that make me sound crazy? I'm sure it does."

Instead of a text response, which Anna had expected, she nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone began ringing.

"Kristoff?" Anna gasped into the receiver.

"Sorry, I know we were texting…" The mountain man grumbled. "But I just know that what I'm about to say has to be said and not typed; you are not crazy. You weren't crazy then and you aren't crazy now."

"Oh, Kristoff…"

"No, let me finish." He breathed deeply and Anna's stomach clenched in anticipation. "This guy you were with, Hans or whoever… He sounds like a real piece of shit, Anna. And, for the life of me, I can't figure out why someone as wonderful as you wound up with that jackass for two years."

Anna sighed deeply, uncertain what to say: "He was my first real boyfriend… I thought I was in love." The last bit she whispered almost to herself, but Kristoff heard it clear as day. "Now I know I was being gaslit… did you know that's actually a term for psychological manipulation? I thought my sister made it up, but no. It's a legit thing…"

A pause that seemed to stretch on for a lifetime came; Anna's cheeks burned with embarrassment. _Why the hell am I confiding like this in a total stranger?_

"Kristoff?" Anna shyly whispered into the phone. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry if I overstepped and overshared."

"Anna… don't be sorry. I'm the one who should be sorry," frustrated with himself, Kristoff breathed heavily into his phone. "I don't know what to say to make you feel better… I just wish I was there, with you… to give you a hug."

With a quick inhale Anna sat up quickly, barely believing what she'd just heard. "Kris," she breathed into the phone, the nickname coming from her lips for the first time in a way that just felt right. "I… I wish you were here too."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kristoff's POV

The week between Christmas and New Years had passed faster than Kristoff could every recall; growing up he'd never really had much to do during school's winter break, and as such time had crept by at a snail's pace. That was the reality of being a foster kid. Some foster parents were only in it for the check, and those weren't the type of people to drive him to a friend's house, take him to the local roller rink, or even drive him across town to the library so he could check out a book. Of course, things had gotten loads better when he was fifteen, once he'd been taken in by Kevin and Ivy; they were two of the kindest, most generous souls that he'd ever met and he knew that there would never be words to tell them just how much their compassion and kindness had meant to him. Now, the week between Christmas and New Years, as an adult, things were definitely different. For one, he had a car to get anywhere he wanted and a dog to keep him company. He had his own place with a kitchen, comfortable bed, and a working television. He didn't have any close friends, but there were guys from the construction crew he knew he could call up if he wanted to go to a bar for a beer or some pool. By all accounts, his life was pretty damn good.

Not that Oliver saw it that way.

Rolling his neck back and forth, Kristoff tried to ease the pressure building in his neck muscles. Staring at the ceiling of his old bedroom he couldn't help but blink tiredly as he realized how much he'd accomplished in the last day. The drive from his small home in Colorado to Seattle, Washington, had been exhausting… With frequent breaks to let Sven get out of the truck cabin to stretch his legs, stopping for gas and food and bathroom breaks, too, it had taken nearly an entire twenty-four hours for Kristoff to reach Kevin and Ivy's place. Oliver, his foster brother, had arrived early that night and stayed up to welcome Kristoff home.

Oliver was, as Kristoff would say, a loveable idiot. An eternal optimist. A do-gooder. He lived in Washington state and, just as Kristoff had, had stayed close with Kevin and Ivy after he left their home and moved on, trying to make something of himself. After a few years of community college, Oliver had found his path as a foster parent recruiter; not exactly a job Kristoff would've enjoyed (too much talking to strangers), but he was happy for his "little brother." While they'd come from different foster families before meeting at the Bakers house, they'd hit it off quickly. The first night Kristoff had arrived the duo had stayed up all night sharing horror stories of foster-families-past; even now, at twenty-seven, Kristoff could remember the feeling as his anxiety ebbed away when Oliver told him all about how kind and funny Kevin and Ivy were… how Ivy would take him to see new Disney movies at the movie theater, bought him brand new books from the big chain stores, and had bought him an entire wardrobe of new clothes from stores at the mall, instead of Goodwill. Kevin worked for a mortgage company and consequently was given frequent box seats at Seattle Mariner games; and he always took Oliver and now, Oliver assured Kristoff, he'd take Kristoff too.

Life had been full of fun trips while he lived with the Bakers; they were older than the parents of other kids his age, but he'd come to learn when he was about seventeen that they'd had a son who had died young of a recurring childhood cancer. Years afterwards, decades probably, the Bakers had decided to foster with the intent to adopt, but that was a beast in and of itself (one that the Bakers never managed to conquer). Yet, they had conquered another beast altogether: they kept Kristoff and Oliver in their care from the days both boys came to them, to the days that each had voluntarily moved out to strike out on his own. It wasn't uncommon in the system to be living a happy life with one foster family and be suddenly uprooted to another, often worse, situation. The Bakers had put a firm stop to that cycle. Kristoff and Oliver (who'd arrived at age 12, and lived with the couple for 2 years until Kristoff showed up) were lucky in that respect. In the years they'd all lived together there had been more Mariners games than Kristoff could keep track of, trips to Disneyland and Disney World, and enough hiking trips to various National Parks for Kristoff to fall in love with nature.

Oliver and Kristoff had each moved out around the age of twenty-one; Kristoff headed to Colorado to join a branch of the construction company he'd worked for in Seattle and Oliver moved in with his girlfriend. Neither had gone to a four-year college, Kristoff had actually skipped that rite of passage altogether, but they'd done the best they could for themselves while managing to keep in touch and visit the Bakers like any good sons would. They'd become family. Brothers, really. Which is why Kristoff wasn't surprised in the slightest when he'd dragged his tired self into the Bakers house earlier that night only to have a can of beer tossed his way before he could so much as blink.

"It's about fucking time, dude!" Oliver laughed as he shook his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes and tossed his lanky frame onto the sectional. "Mom and dad were trying to wait up, but she was just exhausted so they went to bed a couple hours ago; she'll be sad she missed you finally show up."

Kristoff sighed, rubbing a hand down his face, before reaching down to take off Sven's leash and let him have the run of the place. Standing back up, cracking his back as he did so, he popped the tab and took a few swigs of beer.

"I know, I didn't plan this trip as well as I should've…" a yawn ripped through him as he settled in on the sofa near Oliver, leaving enough room to kick his feet up on the couch after he toed off his boots.

"No kidding." Oliver looked over at him as the sportscaster wrapped up a replay of an earlier ice hockey game. "I thought you were planning to leave so that you'd get here around dinner time?"

Kristoff's cheeks tinged pink, something that did not go unnoticed by Oliver. He'd planned to leave with enough time to get to the Bakers for dinner, planning to crash in his old bedroom afterwards, but he'd gotten caught up with something… or someone. Truth be told he'd been talking with Anna and the pair had lost track of time. She'd been adorable, recounting how a night out with Elsa had ended up with her being escorted back to Elsa's place in the back of a cop car, with an inebriated Elsa loudly whispering – or whisper-shouting as Anna had said – that she didn't want to get in trouble and that she couldn't remember if the officer had taken her license. From what Kristoff had understood (it was tough to follow Anna's stories because she always backtracked to add more details, something she thought would be beneficial to the overall story) Elsa had gotten a hefty raise at work after winning some monster of a court case. The sisters had gone out to celebrate and Elsa had lost her damn mind… shot after shot, drink after drink, the liquor kept flowing. Kristoff had an idea of how drunk the girls were, since Anna had been drunk texting him off and on throughout much of the night. Apparently, once they'd gotten back to Elsa's loft she'd faceplanted in her bathroom – black out drunk – and Anna had been terrified her older sister had inadvertently broken her nose during the fall; petite, little Anna had to hoist Elsa into the tub and spray her down with cold water until she was awake enough to change out of her party clothes and get into bed.

"Is there a girl involved?" Oliver wondered, a smile splitting his face he watched Kristoff turn pink.

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" Oliver laughed, brushing his long hair back, and leaning into the comfy cushions of the sofa. "You look like a girl who just got asked out… what the fucks goin' on?"

The silence was deafening.

"Holy shit, no fucking way man!" Oliver leaned closer, eyes glinting conspiratorially, as he whispered as if afraid to break the moment. "How long have you had a girlfriend?"

The reaction was quick, almost knee-jerk, as Kristoff sputtered out, "She's not my girlfriend."

"Mhmm." Oliver mumbled, taking another swig of his beer. Moments passed but his gaze never fell from Kristoff's, which had taken on a rather saddened look for someone who moments ago looked downright smitten. "Why not?"

Shrugging his shoulders while attempting to simultaneously rearrange his face into something not resembling depression, Kristoff shrugged. "It doesn't even matter."

"Dude," his little brother began, looking incredulously at Kristoff… the older brother he'd always looked up to, so big and strong, quiet and compassionate. "What the hell is going on? I've never seen you like this…"

"I'm just tired." Came the gruff reply.

Muting the television, Oliver took a deep breath, "This seems like more than just being tired."

"Like I said, it doesn't matter."

"But why?"

"Why what?"

"Why doesn't it matter? I don't get it… you like a girl?"

Sighing and setting down his can of beer, Kristoff glared at his little brother. "Her name is Anna." He began slowly, unsure of how much to divulge. "She's a first grade teacher. Twenty-three with red hair… funny as all hell."

"Okay…" Oliver stopped, unsure of whether to ask more questions or wait and see if Kristoff would continue. As the moments passed, the look on Kristoff's face indicated that there was more he wanted to say, but was struggling to find the words.

"And man, she's fucking awesome." Came the sigh from Kristoff, exhaled with force as his eyes pinched shut. "But she's not local. She lives in Indiana."

"How far away is that, from you?" Oliver wondered, reaching for his phone to look it up.

"Don't bother," Kristoff said brusquely. "From my house to her town it's about fifteen hours."

Trying not to frown, Oliver couldn't help but see the problem. Long distance was doable for some couples, but his older brother worked a physically draining job in construction, not to mention his side business on weekends… Not exactly cohesive with making a fifteen hour drive every couple of weekends.

"Couples do it, man."

In response Kristoff quirked an eyebrow at his brother, daring him to continue. "Honestly man, she's great, but it's pointless." Releasing an angry breath of air and pushing up off the sofa he stood to make his way out of the family room and up to the sanctuary of his childhood bedroom. "I'm going to bed."

As he headed out of the room, exhaustion sweeping through his body like a flooding river, he could hear Oliver behind him mutter lowly, "This discussion isn't over." But rolling his eyes Kristoff new that at least for now, it was.

Now as he lay awake in bed, stomach growling, his mind kept going back to his short-lived conversation with Oliver. Last night, after he'd finally dragged his exhausted body to bed, there wasn't much on his mind but the peaceful oblivion of sleep. This morning was a different story entirely.

_Was it totally out of the realm of possibility that he could have a long-distance relationship with Anna? Would she even want to? Hell, was she even interested?_

There were so many questions begging to be answered and, unfortunately, his childhood bedroom offered no insight. No one besides Sven, and now Oliver, even knew about Anna; Kristoff was extremely limited in who he could confide in, but Oliver seemed a good choice… If he could pull his head out of the damn clouds and give some solid advice, and not just romantic bullshit his last girlfriend had filled his head with.

"Kristoff! Sweetie?" the melodic voice of Ivy, one of his favorite people on the entire planet, drifted up the stairs. "Are you up? I'm cooking breakfast…"

Scratching his stubble as he pushed himself up and out of bed, jostling Sven who'd slept at the foot of the bed in the process, he let out a yawn that sounded more like the groan of a dinosaur waking up and called back, "Sure thing, ma! Be down in a couple!"

Throwing a hoodie on over his bare chest and pulling on some socks to keep his toes warm from the hardwood floors Ivy had redecorated with, he opened the bedroom door and was nearly tossed to the ground by an eager Sven who must've smelled Ivy's bacon even before the door was ajar. Grabbing his phone from the dresser, where he'd left it to charge overnight, he headed to the bathroom down the hall. The screen lit up with life, mercifully after Kristoff had driven the last two hours of the ride with a dead phone, and Kristoff couldn't help the grin that spread slow and sure across his face as a text from Anna was displayed prominently among other notifications.

"Hey Kristoff =) Not sure what time you got in last night, but I hope you're safe and sound after such a long drive, and happy with your family – they sound wonderful! Enjoy your trip; I'll just be vegging out on the couch watching reruns of Parks and Rec and debating whether I'm going to order Chinese or pizza for dinner later tonight…"

She'd included a gif of a dancing pizza slice and another of a bouncing Chinese takeout carton. From anyone else he would've rolled his eyes in irritation at the stupid moving cartoons, but from Anna he just smiled harder. She was adorable; it was a fact that he seemed to know in his soul. It didn't matter that they'd never met… He could hear it in the lilt of her voice as she'd spoken of her students, the laughter that would bubble up uncontrollably when she had relayed a funny incident at work, and he could see it in the sweetness of her face in the candid photos she was tagged in from Elsa's party. She'd been gorgeous that night, knock out, drop dead gorgeous. A vision that had haunted his dreams every night since they'd been posted online; the way the green fabric of her dress had hugged her chest and showcased her small waist before flaring out around her. Her hair looked so soft he'd wanted to reach into the photo to drag his hands through it… He was sure all of the other women at the party must've been embarrassed to some degree, that they were even in the same room as her. Anna was classically beautifully with shining eyes, a cheerful smile and freckles that dotted the bridge of her nose even in the winter time. For the life of him, Kristoff could not understand why she'd been so reluctant to head into the party in the first place. But, he reminded himself running his fingers through his hair in an attempt to give it some semblance of not looking like total shit before Ivy saw it, her nerves had allowed him the opportunity to remind her of how beautiful, smart, and kind she was. Those were qualities a part of him wished she'd just inherently own and recognize in herself, but he couldn't shake the feeling of confidence that had surged up his chest as he'd declared that everyone around her was lucky just by knowing her.

He had thought she'd scoff and, if he had to imagine it, probably roll her eyes and tell him how wrong he was, but crazy enough she hadn't. His words had meant something to her. Rarely did his words mean anything to anyone, unless he was talking to his family.

Time seemed to have frozen while he'd been in the bathroom combing through his tangled, overgrown mop of hair and brushing his teeth which smelled worse than Sven's breath. A bang on the door brought him out of his reverie and he couldn't miss Oliver shouting through the door that breakfast was on the table and he wasn't waiting for Kristoff to get there before snatching all the bacon. As if he was fifteen again Kristoff found himself throttling like a rocket through the bathroom door and nearly throwing Oliver into the hallway wall in a breakneck effort to beat him to the kitchen.

The day wore on in a similar fashion; snow had begun to fall in Seattle and Ivy had been as happy as ever to have her two boys home for New Years. As the evening crept upon them Oliver offered to go with Kristoff when he announced he was going to take Sven on a walk around the neighborhood.

"You boys have fun, about two streets down there are some really gorgeous Christmas lights up that I'd bet you like." Ivy smiled from her perch at the dining room table, which was filled with puzzle pieces that she'd been trying to put together into a snowy icescape since Kevin had gifted her the puzzle on Christmas morning.

Oliver leaned over her shoulder, examining the puzzle and connecting two pieces together before kissing her on the cheek. "Sure thing, ma."

"And don't get yourselves into any trouble!" came the call as old as time itself.

Oliver rolled his eyes so only Kristoff could see before sweeping a cherub like smile back onto his face for Ivy. "Are you implying that we are known for getting ourselves into trouble?" He sounded offended to the point of no return, even going so far as to throw a hand over his chest in mock incredulity. Even Kristoff, so serious all of the time, couldn't bite back a smirk.

Ivy's gray eyes narrowed as she peered over the tops of her glasses at her youngest boy. "Are you insinuating that you didn't cut all of Mrs. Landolfi's petunias just days after she'd planted them?" The silence in the room was deafening, but the smiles shared between the three were anything but quiet. "Or that you didn't steal Mr. Weiss' ride-on lawn mower for your senior prank? Did they ever find out who took all of Miss Campbell's panties off of her clothesline and hung them from the porch flags all around the neighborhood?" Silence stretched on. "Don't play me Ollie, I know you both better than you know yourselves; now get gone, but come back before your toes fall off from frostbite." And with that the boys ducked out the front door, along with Sven, laughing under their breath while they recalled all of the batshit crazy situations they'd found themselves in during their youth.

As the grandfather clock in the foyer chimed that it was ten at night, Kevin stood from his recliner and smiled at his family. "It really is such a great thing when we're all together, you know that?"

Almost instantaneously Ivy began to tear up, blotting at her eyes with a tissue and whispering under her breath, "Oh Kev, don't get me started." Oliver snorted as he attempted to hold back his guffaw at the scene unfolding before him, but a sharp slice of Ivy's eyes to Oliver was enough to silence him. "You boys have no idea how much we miss you when you're gone…"

"C'mon ma," Kristoff began, scooting closer from where he'd been sprawled out on the chaise portion of the sectional. "Don't cry."

Sniffling harder and trying to rein in her emotions Ivy teared up even more and leaned into Kristoff's burly embrace. "I'm just so glad you're both here. It's been too long."

Kevin smiled at Ivy before asking Oliver to come help him with something on his laptop that was giving him trouble. "Dad," Kristoff heard Oliver snort as the pair made their way into Kevin's home office, "why the fuck are you still using Java?"

Pulling slightly away from Kristoff, Ivy pulled her small spectacles up and off of her nose before delicately perching them in her graying hair. "Now sweetheart, I know we don't normally talk about these things, but please, help an old woman out…" Lifting an eyebrow in question, Kristoff glanced at his mom unsure of where she was going. "Who is this girl that has your so tangled up inside?"

Leaning back in surprise and looking away uncomfortably Kristoff took a minute before responding, instead opting to run his fingers through his hair and scratch an imaginary itch on the back of his neck. "Umm… how did you…" He began, unsure of what to say or where to go from there.

"Oh, darling." Ivy sighed before reaching forward to the coffee table to reclaim her glass of white wine. "It's a mother's intuition to know when her son is discontented… And we both know Oliver can't keep a secret, so that helps too."

Dragging his calloused hands down his face, and knowing in his gut that he was not going to be able to put Ivy off of this conversation, Kristoff groaned reluctantly. "Her name is Anna… Anna Arendelle. And… we haven't exactly met…"

Ivy nodded without judgement and continued to stare at her son; he'd always been so easily introverted, hard to pull out of his shell, that she'd learned early on in the days when he'd first arrived to her home that Kristoff was someone who didn't confide in others lightly. "Mhmm…" she murmured, waiting for more.

"So… it all started weeks ago, when she reached out to place an order for this custom ornament…"

Minutes ticked by and the grandfather clock chimed again signaling it was eleven at night, time had flown talking to Ivy and Kristoff couldn't help but blink in surprise. The words he'd spent the past hour sharing had spewed out of him like a lava eruption: uncontainable.

"So," Ivy whispered conspiratorially, "it sounds to me like you already know what you want to do… maybe you're just in need of a push?"

Blinking stupidly, he was certain, Kristoff just stared at Ivy. "Uh, no? I don't know? What?"

"Kristoff," Ivy laughed standing to stretch and refill her wine glass. "You've spent the last hour talking… no. I'm sorry. Talking is most certainly not the right word to use here…" She paused in her ministrations, eyes squinted in determination before nearly exclaiming, "gushing! Yes! That's exactly right, you've spent the past hour gushing about this sweet girl, and you think you're ever going to be content just being her phone friend?" The look Ivy shot Kristoff nearly skewered his heart, it was so full of disbelief. "Please. I may be getting on in years, but I'm no fool."

"Did you miss the part where she lives, like, fifteen hours away?" Kristoff sputtered, absentmindedly petting Sven who'd wandered into the room and plopped down beside him.

"No… Have you had your head so buried in work that it never even occurred to you that you could make something long distance work? I mean, I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but I'm not sure what's holding you back other than a fear of putting yourself out there."

It was as if a bucket of ice had been thrown over Kristoff's head. Of course he'd thought about the notion that maybe Anna would consider giving their friendship a shot at turning into something more romantic… Those were thoughts he often talked to Sven about nonstop once the idea crept into his mind. It's how he spent many lunch breaks in the cabin of his truck: debating whether or not to text the feisty ginger and ask if she'd be interested in meeting up sometime soon. Yet the worries remained: _Was he being too forward?_ Afterall, she was very clear that she'd just gotten out of a shitty relationship with some douche who'd been way to controlling to have noticed that it was the twenty-first century. _Was he pushing his luck?_ The past several weeks had flown by, largely because of how excited he was to talk to his new friend… Having someone he loved to talk to had given him something to look forward to that was deeper than going to the local bar with some guys after work, or taking Sven on hikes. _Was she even interested in him like that?_ He'd seen countless photos of her, but had she seen any of him? His profile was virtually barren and their attempt to Skype had been chaotic thanks to his shitty internet.

Ivy had watched Kristoff's back straighten almost imperceptibly as he wrestled internally. "Darling," she laughed lightly as his eyes darted back to her, almost as if he'd forgotten she was there and had lost himself to his own thoughts, "sometimes you have to take a chance. You like her, that's obvious. It's not as if you have to marry someone you've just met! All I'm saying is that, if you truly like her and are interested in her beyond a basic friendship, you are probably going to have to put yourself out there."

His whispered response was so quiet she'd nearly missed it, "But what if she isn't interested?"

Furrowing her brows and pulling herself up to her full height (not even close to either of her sons) and straightening her robe around her, she marched back to Kristoff and snatched his chin with her hand until he was looking her square in the eyes. "Don't count yourself out of something great before you've even tried." Raising an eyebrow, daring him to rebuke her, she continued, "We have raised you better than that."

Dropping onto the sofa next to her burly, oldest boy, Ivy continued to stare into his eyes knowing that he needed to know this, to hear exactly what she was saying and to take it to heart. "You were dealt an awful hand when you were younger; losing a wonderful mother, God rest her soul, and getting bounced from place to place as much as you did. But you've never let that define you. Kevin and I… we tried so hard to make sure you knew that you were loved and safe, cared for, and that you would always have a home with us. But we also tried to raise you to know that you have to put yourself out there, sometimes, to get where you want to go… So, Kristoff… If Anna is where you want to go, why not just go?"

Gulping down the nerves that were bubbling up in his throat, Kristoff swallowed hard. "Huh?"

"Kristoff. Really?" Ivy wondered. "Do you think I'm blind, deaf, and dumb?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why in the world would I not have noticed that your phone has been permanently attached to your hand since you got here? Listening to Oliver tease you about it, I can only assume you've been talking with this sweet girl?"

"Umm… yea." Came his sheepish reply.

"Well, you have a few days left before you go back to work on the third… why not see if you can visit her for a bit?"

"So soon!?"

"Why beat around the bush?"

Footsteps grew louder from the hall as Oliver peered around the doorway into the family room. "So… not to make it look like I could hear your entire conversation while I was reinstalling Java for dad, but I'm with mom on this one."

"Jesus Christ, what the fuck Oliver?" Kristoff muttered as he dropped his head to his hands.

"I'll leave you boys to it then," Ivy chuckled standing up. "Good luck Ollie, he's smitten has all hell but too scared of his own shadow to make a move."

"Ma!"

"The truth is the truth, darling. Now, you boys don't stay up too late and I'll see you in the morning."

As their mother gracefully exited the room, and the boys could hear her light footsteps patting up the stairs, Kristoff gazed at his younger brother.

"And what do you have to say in all of this?"

"A whole lot actually," Oliver began. "I have never, ever, seen you look at your phone with that goofy-ass smile like you did yesterday while we were out. Why not shoot your shot with her? You obviously like her…"

"Because," Kristoff started, frustration clawing in his chest that no one else seemed to understand the point he was trying to make, "the likelihood of all this shit lining up and working out with Anna is small at best."

"Because of the distance?" Oliver wondered, grabbing a dog toy and tossing it to an eager Sven.

"Yeah…"

"Or because she might not be into it?"

Words bubbled up, but Kristoff couldn't get them out.

"Oh…" Oliver exhaled. "Dude. Let me see your phone."

"What!? No!" Kristoff exclaimed, making a grab to snatch it back from the coffee table.

"Don't be fucking pussy." Oliver beat Kristoff to his phone and swiped it up easily. "Really?" He tsk-ed, eyeing his brother warily. "Not even a password? Who are you?"

Groaning Kristoff let himself fall back into the sofa and threw a pillow over his face. _How fucking embarrassing were those texts? _He wondered. _Not embarrassing in the moment, but kinda lame when read through the eyes of someone who hadn't lived it._ Waiting for the inevitable howl of laughter, Kristoff closed his eyes and practiced taking shallow breaths through the fabric of the pillow. Moments became minutes and the minutes continued ticking on, before Kristoff, tired and a little lightheaded withdrew his head and cast his brother a furtive glance. Surprising Kristoff, Oliver was staring intently at the phone, frequently flicking his finger up the screen to move the conversation, Kristoff was certain. Biting his lip he opted to stay silent and instead watch as Oliver analyzed his conversation, and by association his relationship with Anna.

After what felt like a lifetime Oliver blinked slowly a few times before lifting his eyes and staring at Kristoff. "I don't get it, man."

"What do you mean?" Kristoff asked slowly… He didn't get the conversation? Anna's sense of humor? What Kristoff saw in her? _Could he be any less helpful?_

"She likes you. I can tell…" Oliver tossed the phone across the sectional to Kristoff and stared at his older brother in confusion. "I mean… she laughs at your lame jokes… She sends funny memes, sometimes photos of herself. Those are signals you idiot." Speaking slowly, as if to a moron, he continued, "Signals that she like-likes you."

"But… okay. At the risk of sounding like a total pussy, and I will deny I ever asked you this if it gets brought up: Do you think she'd like me if we met?"

Sven let out a whine, curling up at Kristoff's feet and resting his head on his master's boots.

"Why wouldn't she?"

"She's never even seen me, man."

"I don't get it, are you worried she won't be attracted to you? That your face is going to annoy her?"

"I don't know…" came Kristoff's moan.

"Listen," Oliver sighed. "I wouldn't lie to you. This girl, Anna, she seems like a good one… And I'm pretty sure she thinks you're a good one, too. Just… I don't know. Don't miss this opportunity. You have a chance at something good and, sure, it might end up fizzling out or never even getting off the ground, but why not even take the chance?" Eyeing Kristoff's phone, Oliver couldn't help but smile as he stood up to head to bed. "I know it's late where she is, but maybe text her and ask if she'd be interested in meeting up?"

"I don't have a lot of time I can take off of work…"

"Dude, mom isn't going to be upset if you dip out of our family time early to go meet this girl. Jesus, she'd probably get your car cleaned and fill up the tank herself."

As Oliver walked out of the room, Kristoff couldn't help but pick up his phone and find the picture of Anna he'd found from her sister's party that he'd saved to his camera roll. Her head was thrown back in a laugh, her smile radiating pure joy, and her eyes crinkled by just how big her smile was. Switching apps and pulling up their messages he took a deep breath and cast a look at Sven, still resting by his feet with a silent reassurance.

"What do you think, Sven? Should I go for it?"

Sven barked enthusiastically, hopping to his feet and then jumping on the sofa beside Kristoff as if to say: _"Finally!"_

Letting his fingers do the work, Kristoff closed his eyes and simply opted to type what he was thinking… "Hey Anna! I know it's super early in the morning for you, but it's a little after 11pm here in Seattle. Hopefully this doesn't wake you up; I'm really sorry if it does! I've been thinking about you a lot lately and was wondering if you'd like to meet up? I go back to work January 3rd, so it'd be awesome if we could meet up before then, if you're game. I can come to you, or we could meet halfway. Just let me know – I hope you're enjoying your winter break and having fun with Elsa… Sven says "hi" too =)"

Without re-reading the message, Kristoff sent it off into the universe, knowing that Anna's phone was undoubtedly lighting up with this notification somewhere in Indiana at this very moment. Turning his phone completely off Kristoff decided it was time for bed; he'd worry about the possibility of rejection tomorrow morning while he waited to turn his phone on. Instead, tonight, he'd dream of the possibilities of a positive reply from Anna, and what it could mean for him.


End file.
